German Police investigate claims of 'child abuse' in Second Life

German police are investigating online virtual world 'Second Life' after reports that some users are trading child porn and committing virtual illegal acts.

This grisly side to a world of fantasy was revealed by German reporter Nick Schader for German TV programme 'Report Mainz.' Whilst he was carrying out an investigation into Second Life he was asked to pay to attend meetings where real child porn was being shown.The investigation also uncovered so called "age play" groups that revolve around the abuse of virtual children.

Linden Labs, creators of Second Life are cooperating with the German prosecutors office, and are trying to identify the users for the police. Under Germany law possession of "virtual" child pornography is punishable by up to three years in jail. The police are now trying to identify the Second Life members involved.

Actually the Specialist disagrees there, he claims that it is used for situation training by the sicko users, and then more likely to be tried in the real world. Kinda like a flight simulator is used to train pilots for certain situations.